An Eighth Shot of Espresso: Coffee and Creativity on Mum's Third Shift

Beauty is fleeting it never lasts forever  but before it fades  it graces us  with its fragile  presence  a fragrant flower that blooms once  fresh and pure  untouched by the rigors of life and ethereal  in its quality a reminder of what  happiness brings  for such a brief time

My daughter turns 18 today she has her plans her hopes and her dreams I'm there for moral support I look with wistful eyes remember the little girl trying out hats in the store posing in front of the mirror who set her plushies at the table with bits of cake and pour out tea from the pink pot who hugged the stuffed bear that still sits outside of the chocolate shop and that small girl is now a grown woman I will always be her mother but she is her own person.

Every year  we go to  the Ren Faire  time to get  some mead  in a tall mug hear the crier announce  her Majesty's arrival watch the knights  joust on their horses the crowds shout "Huzzah!" for their chosen  champions the bards wander round  playing love songs and being transported to an idealized time where chivalry is alive and honor is not dead

a flavorful drink  full of rum and spices  an interesting shade  of red  the mansion is decked with tasteful decor from the tables, the lanterns the bed the party is loud  the music sublime  a pity these guests  are all dead

Leaves droop and fall  slowly one by one  the venerable old tree still stands majestic  as it has always been the trunk still proud its root buried deeply into the crumbly black soil a solid sentinel  still watches over us all its branches touch  the cloudless sky  but now they are bare it shivers in the cold because it has lost its yearly armor.

mournful for what  should have been  instead of what is  that is why  I look ever forward  because if I look back  all the regret  would swallow me up my mind trapped in a muddy mire of pain and sadness of old open wounds  and I can't change  what happened in the past  but I can still improve  my lot for the future